Clips June 4, 2002

[Lillie Coney <lillie.coney@xxxxxxx>]

Clips June 4, 2002

ARTICLES

Technology Gap Among Colleges Perpetuates 'Digital Divide' in Society
Internet Services Restored in Indian Kashmir
MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
In a User-Friendly World, One Picture's Worth 1,000 Passwords
Order to Monitor Viewing Habits Overturned
Pupils share net skills with parents
Facing up to diagnosis
New tool to facilitate wiretapping
Appeals court takes up Internet libel jurisdiction
Government training targets computer crimes
Online game helping to streetproof kids
Spam threatens to choke internet
Split lines slow net access
Australian spammers plunder net names
(New Zealand) Government opens purse for 'human interface' lab

***********************
Chronicle of Higher Education
Technology Gap Among Colleges Perpetuates 'Digital Divide' in Society, 
Expert Warns
By JEFFREY R. YOUNG

The "digital divide" in American society is getting worse, not better, and 
it is being perpetuated in part by a technology gap between elite and 
minority-serving colleges, says Larry Irving, a technology consultant who 
is a former U.S. assistant secretary of commerce.

Mr. Irving helped prepare the 1995 research report for the National 
Telecommunications and Information Administration that first sparked 
widespread public debate about the digital divide -- the disparity in 
access to electronic resources by whites and minority groups -- and he 
remains outspoken about the need to develop more public programs to bring 
technology access to minority communities.

In a speech last month, he criticized the Bush Administration for cutting 
back on programs meant to help narrow the digital divide. The speech took 
place at a conference jointly sponsored by the National Communication 
Association, a scholarly society, and Computer Professionals for Social 
Responsibility, a public-interest alliance of computer scientists and 
others concerned about the impact of computer technology on society.

Mr. Irving is president and CEO of the Irving Information Group, a 
technology consulting company based in Washington.

Q. Is the digital divide still an issue?

A. There's absolutely no question that it's still an issue. ... As you 
start walking through the statistics, it's pretty clear that there's still 
a gap. And while growth is fastest among low-income [people] and blacks and 
Hispanics, the gap is actually getting wider because they started at a 
lower starting point.

Q. Do you think academics are doing enough to study this gap?

A. No. And I think a lot of the studies, candidly, have been very sloppy. 
There have been a number of studies saying the divide was going to be 
cured, [but those] people were doing random surveys or telephonic surveys. 
Well, random surveys are just junk, and I don't think anybody credible will 
accept a random survey on something that's this critical of an issue, or 
they should not. Telephonic surveys are also junk, particularly when you 
consider that 10 to 15 percent of blacks and Hispanics, and up to 25 
percent of low-income blacks and Hispanics, don't have a telephone. So what 
you get is a group that is more affluent and more likely to use technology.

So you see these rosy pictures that are premised on faulty data. What 
really is annoying to me as a nonacademic is how when you get a really 
lousy, slipshod, awful, self-promoting study that doesn't show the facts, 
other academics are loath to criticize their own, and so it stands out there.

Q. What are some other issues for colleges?

A. Another big issue for colleges is the differential in rates [of 
technology infrastructure] between the various types of colleges. ...

If you look at private universities, the people who come there have greater 
exposure to and experience with the Internet and computer technology than 
students in high schools generally. And when they come to the universities, 
the students at a Stanford, or a Northwestern, or a Columbia, or a Yale, in 
many instances, have access to better technology, and use technology more 
extensively than computer-science majors at minority-serving institutions, 
such as HBCU's [historically black colleges and universities], or 
Hispanic-serving institutions, or the tribal institutions.

[At those institutions], you have older technology, you have worse 
infrastructures, and you have technology that's not integrated into the 
course structure, as it is at some of the private elite universities.

Q. So you see a kind of digital divide among colleges?

A. There is a digital divide among colleges, and we don't have the same 
kind of data on it [as we do on the digital divide more broadly].

I have a real fear that the divide that exists on colleges could be 
exacerbated. You have major universities that are getting involved in the 
next-generation Internet, while you have tribal colleges, minority-serving 
institutions, [and] poor rural colleges that really aren't online and 
haven't figured out a way to elevate themselves into what the mainstream of 
our elite colleges are doing with regard to how to use technology for 
teaching, for learning, for connecting their faculty, and for a host of 
other purposes.

Q. Could a college digital divide exacerbate the broader digital divide?

A. Yeah. Here's what happens. You grow up in a house where you don't have 
technology, you go to a school -- a high school, a junior high -- that has 
very little technology. Then you go to college, and you are again outside 
of the mainstream or the cutting edge or even on the same path that other 
students are going. ... Then you go out into the work force without the 
skills that the work force is looking for. And it just puts people in more 
and more of a hole. ...

These are critical issues for our nation.

Q. Some researchers have argued that the rhetoric of the digital divide 
could do more harm than good by promoting stereotypes that African 
Americans and other minorities simply aren't interested in technology. What 
do you think of those arguments?

A. Part of that has to do with marketing, and I do think that there's a 
disconnect.

If you go into a mainstream magazine, you'll see all kinds of computer ads. 
[But] go into a magazine geared to blacks or Hispanics -- even business 
magazines [for those markets] are almost devoid of technology ads.

Geek chic never really played in the black community. They ought to get 
folks like Kobe Bryant. ... Why is Kobe Bryant doing Nutella and Sprite 
[ads], but he's not doing technology [ads]? ...

You've got a community of 70 million people, the majority of whom are 
English speaking, who have $1.5-trillion of spending power, and 60 percent 
[of them] don't have Internet access, and 60 percent of them don't have a 
computer. And nobody has really said, "This is a market we want to market 
to." And this is absolutely crazy.
********************
Reuters Internet Report
Internet Services Restored in Indian Kashmir
Mon Jun 3, 7:46 AM ET

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian authorities have restored Internet 
services in the strife-torn northern state of Jammu and Kashmir (news - web 
sites) five months after they were withdrawn to stop separatist militants 
from communicating with each other.


Internet access and long-distance call services were withdrawn in the 
Himalayan region in January after a December attack on the Indian 
parliament which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based pro-Kashmiri militants.

The disputed state has been at the center of a tense military confrontation 
between the nuclear neighbors since the December attack. Tensions between 
the South Asian rivals have heightened after last month's deadly raid on an 
army camp, which India again blamed on Pakistan-based guerrillas.

"Internet access has been restored in Jammu and Kashmir state," an Indian 
telecommunications official told Reuters. He did not give reasons for 
restoring the service.

Last month authorities restored long distance phone services to at least 
2,500 public telephone offices in the troubled region following protests 
from their owners. Indian telecommunication giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. 
(BSNL) provides Internet and telephone services in the state.

Mobile phone services have not been launched in Kashmir for security reasons.

At least a dozen militant groups are fighting New Delhi's rule in Jammu and 
Kashmir where officials say more than 33,000 people have been killed and 
thousands wounded in 12 years of rebellion.
*******************
Reuters
MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Mon Jun 3, 7:22 PM ET
By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology (news - web sites) said he has found a way to circumvent the 
security system for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox (news - web sites) video game 
console, opening the way for hackers to use it to run competing software, 
according to documents released over the weekend.


The MIT computer expert, who posted his report on his university Web site, 
also questioned the security behind Microsoft's soon-to-launch online 
service, Xbox Live, saying hackers could exploit a flaw in the system to 
identify individual players from their game machines.

Andrew Huang, who recently completed a PhD thesis on supercomputer 
architecture, wrote a memo May 26 describing his efforts to build hardware 
that would read the Xbox's internal security system. A link to the 15-page 
report was posted this weekend at technology news and discussion Web site 
Slashdot.org (http://www.slashdot.org).

Computer enthusiasts have been excited about the possibility of using the 
$199 Xbox, which is technologically similar to a PC, as a stand-alone 
computer running operating systems like Linux (news - web sites).

Some see it as the ultimate slight against Microsoft -- using the software 
giant's own hardware to run software that competes against its Windows 
operating system.

In the memo, Huang said the Xbox's primary security is contained in what he 
calls a "secret boot block" that is encoded into a media processor chip 
built for the Xbox by Nvidia Corp.

Representatives of Microsoft and Nvidia were not immediately available for 
comment. An MIT spokesman told Reuters the university has not been received 
any request to take the paper down from its sites.

TAPPED SYSTEM HARDWARE

Huang said he had extracted the contents of the boot block by tapping the 
data path that travels between the media chip and the central processor.

By attaching a custom-designed board to that high-speed data path, Huang 
was able to capture the data transmitted between the two chips and manually 
process it to uncover the secrets contained in the "boot block."

He said it took a total of three weeks to build his custom board for a 
total cost of around $50.

Given the particular encryption algorithm that was used and the decryption 
key, both of which Huang has identified, "one can run original code on the 
Xbox," he said, meaning it would be possible to run things like 
unauthorized games and other operating systems on the console.

Huang also said a colleague of his, who goes by the pseudonym "visor," had 
had discovered a vulnerability in the console's programming, that would 
allow the boot-up sequence to be interrupted so that any code can be run on 
the system.

In an e-mail to Reuters, Huang said he notified Microsoft in advance he 
would be publishing the paper, gave them a copy to read, and has been in 
regular contact with the company. He also said he is not working on any of 
the attempts to run Linux or other systems on the Xbox.

"I know a lot of people are exploring the possibility now, but I personally 
am not spearheading any effort toward this end," he said.

"I like doing hardware, so I'm making my little contribution to figuring 
out the hardware, so that those who like doing software can do what they 
like to do," he said.

Huang also said in the paper he has discovered keys to the identity of the 
console owner that may, in theory, be vulnerable through an online connection.

Huang said he separately discovered that the console's serial number is 
stored in its memory, and that the data might be readable by the central 
operating system. "What happens to this information when the Xbox is 
plugged into the Internet?" he said.
******************
Government Computer News
OMB puts Transportation's IT services program on a short leash

By Preeti Vasishtha
GCN Staff


The Office of Management and Budget has given the Transportation 
Administrative Service Center a year to turnaround its governmentwide IT 
services programdespite a critical audit by the Transportation Department's 
inspector general.

The IG recently reported that the IT Omnibus Procurement program, which the 
center has run since 1995, was losing money. Through the program, agencies, 
including state and local governments, can buy IT services from 36 
contractors.

The center's designation as the ITOP executive agent was set to expire 
today. Transportation officials asked OMB, which has authority over 
governmentwide IT contracts, to let the center continue running the program.

OMB has agreed, giving DOT an extension until June 3, 2003, to run the 
program and resolve the problems identified by the IG.

The audit found that ITOP is not financially self-sufficient. OMB requires 
the center to charge fees to cover its expenses. But the IG team found that 
the center's fees did not generate revenue to cover expenses. The center 
reported a loss of $2.1 million on ITOP for the five years that ended Sept. 
30, 2001.

Additionally, the report said that ITOP has not streamlined the procurement 
of IT services.

The IG cited a failure in oversight by DOT management. "We found no 
departmental oversight to ensure adequate competition before awarding 
work," the audit said.

A senior Transportation official, who requested anonymity, said department 
brass is reviewing the center's management structure, after which it plans 
to seek OMB's approval to continue the program beyond June of next year.

In its report, the IG made three recommendations:

The DOT center should not seek further extensions of its ITOP authority 
from OMB until fees cover expenses.
The center should suspend ITOP expansion and stop subsidizing customers' 
use of the program.
Transportation's CIO and senior procurement executive should increase 
departmental oversight of ITOP.
********************
News.com
Wireless Web activates in small towns


By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 3, 2002, 4:25 PM PT


Wireless Web service providers have begun bringing broadband Internet 
access to rural areas and small markets largely overlooked by larger Web 
providers.
The latest example was on Monday in Missoula, Mont., a town of 50,000, 
where two local Internet providers began offering service from a wireless 
Internet network capable of speeds 30 times that of a dial-up modem. 
Similar kinds of wireless networks will become available in Maui, Hawaii, 
and areas of Vancouver, British Columbia, in the next few weeks.

Wireless service provider Walker Wireless has launched a similar network in 
New Zealand and just got a $20 million cash infusion and a partnership with 
Vodafone, the largest cell phone provider in the world.



Wireless is one proposed answer to the problem of bringing Internet access 
to rugged areas where it costs too much to lay in fiber-optic cable or 
other traditional forms of Internet access. Wireless is a less expensive 
alternative, but it has been slow to take hold because of such 
technological hurdles as signal strength and has also faced concerns over 
the reliability of the service.

Wireless broadband networks such as the one launched Monday in Montana have 
the backing of Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, who heads the Senate's 
telecommunications committee. He is among those championing wireless 
technologies to solve the "last mile problem" for rural areas.

"It fits right into this agenda," Burns spokesman Eric Bovim said. The 
senator believes the same kinds of technologies will be used to outfit 
areas of the Dakotas and Wyoming soon with Internet access, he said.

The network launched in Missoula on Monday uses a cellular technology 
called wCDMA (wideband code division multiple access). Cell phone calls 
travel over commercially available spectrum. The equipment is provided by 
San Bruno, Calif.-based IPWireless.

Usually, wCDMA signals travel all over, bouncing off trees or buildings. 
The signals themselves can get so misdirected they actually interfere with 
each other as they find their way to a handset or cellular base station's 
antenna, said Jon Hambidge, senior director of marketing for IPWireless.

IPWireless uses a proprietary way of recombining the signals to create the 
network's speed, he said.

Analysts say the small markets may be just what this young, still 
developing technology needs in order to work out its wrinkles and attract 
bigger carriers like Sprint PCS, which did trials on similar technology 
several years ago but abandoned the effort, said Warren Wilson, practice 
director for analysts Summit Strategies.

"It's been really kind of the Holy Grail of wireless computing," he said.
*****************************
Los Angeles Times
In a User-Friendly World, One Picture's Worth 1,000 Passwords
Image-driven log-ons are easier to use and more secure, high-tech 
researchers claim
By J. MICHAEL KENNEDY

Face it. Almost everyone suffers from a bad case of passworditis.

Think, for a moment, of the slew of daily chores that require passwords. 
The company computer. The home computer. Banking and ATM machines. Web 
sites. Voice mail. Car and home security systems. It doesn't take long to 
accumulate a dozen or more passwords. Scribbling them down on Post-its or 
using the same password for everything is how most people cope with the 
overload. Either way makes it easier for hackers to invade computer privacy.

Now researchers are moving toward what may be an answer to the password 
conundrum--pictures. A number of companies, including software behemoth 
Microsoft, are looking into various ways that images can be used to replace 
standard passwords, which usually contain letters and numbers and are, more 
often than not, easily forgotten. Pictures, on the other hand, are much 
easier to remember. So researchers are developing picture passwords that 
will make it simpler for the user and more difficult for the average hacker.

Take, for instance, the screens available through a New York company called 
Passlogix. One picture shows a wet bar. The password is created by 
concocting a drink from the various items pictured--glass, ice, vermouth, 
vodka and, voila, a martini. The order the items are selected becomes the 
password. Another screen might ask the user to choose elements from the 
Periodic Table in a certain order. Still another asks the user to select a 
number of food items from its "Make a Meal" screen.

Researchers at UC Berkeley who have studied the habits of computer users 
say laziness plays a major role in most people's choices of passwords. Most 
people have a tendency to use familiar names, especially those of family 
members and pets, said Adrian Perrig, a member of the Berkeley team. A poll 
conducted by the British domain registration firm CentralNic found that 47% 
of all computer users choose family names in passwords.

"They pick the name of their cat or their dog and then add one digit at the 
end if they think they're being clever," said Paul Barrett, whose RealUser 
Corp. uses pictures of randomly chosen faces as passwords.

Another 32% of computer users choose sports, pop and movie stars, as well 
as cartoon characters and team names. Only 9% employed the more difficult 
"cryptic" passwords, those with the mix of upper- and lower-case letters, 
numbers and punctuation that are recommended to ensure security.

And that, said Perrig, makes the majority of computer users easy prey, 
particularly for hackers using programs that can run through thousands of 
words in a matter of minutes.

"They just try every single word in the dictionary," said Perrig. "If you 
have a simplistic password, it will be in the dictionary and can be found."

And that's just the basics. Some hacking programs are so sophisticated they 
use thousands of first and last names, then add any number of character 
combinations at the beginning and end of the root word to sniff out passwords.

Forgetting passwords, however, is a more common problem of the computer era 
than hacking, particularly for major corporations that must maintain large 
help desks to service the company's computer users--often around the clock. 
Estimates range widely about how much it costs a company each time an 
employee forgets a password, but the total is in the millions of dollars. 
Those who are pushing picture passwords contend they will save companies 
money because recalling images is much easier than the alternative.

Perrig said 90% of people in a test group that researchers evaluated were 
able to remember the pictures chosen from his Deja Vu program even a week 
after the test. In contrast, only 70% could remember their standard 
passwords. The reason, he said, is that passwords must be precisely written 
every time, but pictures demand only recognition.

"People are very good at recognizing images they have seen," said Perrig. 
"People are not good at precise recall."

And, researchers say, though far from foolproof, pictures are more 
difficult for hackers to crack than the simplistic passwords most people 
choose.

Those experimenting with picture passwords are working on several tracks. 
Perrig's Deja Vu uses computer-generated images that are colorful and 
abstract. Microsoft is using an intricate picture, such as the various 
parts of a human skeleton. Barrett's PassFace makes the user recognize five 
randomly selected faces in the right order to gain access to the computer. 
A new user goes through a five-minute training session in which the 
designated faces appear on the screen until they are memorized.

"It works for everybody," said Barrett. "Only one person in 8 million can't 
remember faces. Once you know a face, you never really forget it."

There are downsides, of course. Rachna Dhamija, another of the Berkeley 
researchers, said what people choose is often predictable. She said if 
pictures are used, men tend to choose things like cars, bridges and coins, 
and women lean toward picturesque landscapes.

Another is the reluctance of businesses to move away from the old familiar 
passwords to the new pictures. Mark Boroditsky, the head of Passlogix, said 
his company decided to create a system in which only one password is needed 
to unlock a program that will catalog all the others. He said anything more 
difficult makes big businesses balk because employees will require 
retraining. That means lost productivity during training sessions.

"A [traditional] password is very well understood," he said. "It may not be 
the best, but it's familiar."
***********************
Los Angeles Times
Order to Monitor Viewing Habits Overturned
Technology: A federal judge reverses a ruling by a magistrate judge that 
said Sonicblue must track users of its ReplayTV 4000 digital recorders.
By JON HEALEY

In a victory for privacy advocates, a federal judge has overturned an order 
requiring the maker of ReplayTV digital video recorders to gather data 
about customers' TV-viewing habits.

The ruling came in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by the major 
Hollywood studios and television networks against Santa Clara, Calif.-based 
Sonicblue Inc. The studios and networks argue that ReplayTV 4000s enable 
piracy by letting viewers skip commercials automatically and send copies of 
programs through the Internet.

A federal magistrate judge had ordered Sonicblue in April to track how its 
devices were being used, a ruling that raised the hackles of privacy 
advocates. In overturning that ruling, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie 
Cooper based her ruling on procedural grounds, not privacy issues. When 
gathering evidence for a lawsuit, she wrote in an order dated Thursday, 
plaintiffs can't compel defendants to turn over information that they're 
not already collecting.

She added that her ruling doesn't extend to Sonicblue's MyReplayTV.com Web 
site, which collects anonymous information about the programs stored on 
customers' recorders.

That information will still have to be turned over to the studios and networks.

Megan Gray, a senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, 
an online civil liberties group, said the order provides "breathing room" 
for products that safeguard consumers' privacy. "It gives other companies 
the ability to consider their users' privacy without having to worry about 
whether a court is going to second-guess them," she said.

But Scott P. Cooper, a lawyer for the studios, argued that the narrowly 
written order didn't provide any broad instruction to manufacturers. By 
ordering Sonicblue to produce the consumer information they'd gained from 
MyReplayTV.com, he said, the judge was implicitly rejecting Sonicblue's 
privacy arguments.

At issue was a federal magistrate's order instructing Sonicblue to "gather 
all available information about how users of the ReplayTV employ the 
devices, including all available information about what works are copied, 
stored, viewed with commercials omitted, or distributed to third parties."

Although previous ReplayTV models had collected anonymous data from users, 
Sonicblue officials said they'd never done so with ReplayTV 4000s. By 
ruling that Sonicblue doesn't have to create information about users, Judge 
Cooper saved the company from having to write new software to monitor its 
customers, said Laurence F. Pulgram, an attorney for Sonicblue.

Pulgram said the entertainment companies still want the court to order 
Sonicblue to police users and stop copyright infringements. Scott Cooper 
replied that Sonicblue has the technical ability to stop recorders from 
violating copyrights in the ways outlined in the lawsuit.

Also in the ruling, Judge Cooper rejected the studios' request to withhold 
from Sonicblue five categories of internal financial documents, business 
plans and related material.
******************

New York Times
Hollywood and Silicon Valley Near Deal on Digital TV
By REUTERS


Filed at 6:29 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Movie studios and consumer-electronics companies are 
close to reaching an agreement that would protect digital-television 
broadcasts from being copied and traded Napster-style over the Internet, 
negotiators said on Monday.

The group will likely report that most industry players agree that digital 
televisions, recordable DVDs and other devices should recognize a 
``broadcast flag'' that would allow consumers to make personal copies but 
prevent them from distributing those copies online, said negotiators 
involved in the process.

Consumers could save digital broadcasts on DVDs, and transfer broadcasts 
for playback on different devices in the same house, they said. But they 
probably would not be able to e-mail an episode of ``The Simpsons'' to a 
friend, or make it available on a file-sharing network like Kazaa.

The agreement, if adopted by a standards-setting group on Wednesday, would 
knock down a major hurdle in the much-delayed transition to digital 
broadcasting and could serve as the basis for federal law.

It would also be a rare moment of harmony for Hollywood and Silicon Valley, 
which have clashed recently over whether devices such as computers and CD 
burners encourage piracy.

The Broadcast Protection Discussion Group, made up of representatives from 
major media companies, electronics manufacturers and high-tech companies 
like No. 1 chipmaker Intel Corp(INTC.O), was prepared late Monday to wrap 
up work on the issue after struggling with it since last November.

``We expect to have something done late today,'' said Robert Perry, a vice 
president of marketing at Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America(8058.T), 
who has served as one of three co-chairs of the group.

AGREEMENT COULD BREAK LOGJAM

The report will be taken up on Wednesday by the Copy Protection Working 
Group, a technical standards-setting body that has in the past arrived at 
common standards for DVDs.

The U.S. Congress or the Federal Communications Commission could use the 
group's conclusions as the basis for a new law that would prevent 
electronics manufacturers from making devices that do not conform, 
observers said.

The agreement could break the logjam between Silicon Valley and Hollywood 
that has slowed the adoption of digital television.

Media firms have been hesitant to embrace free, over-the-air digital 
broadcasts, worrying that perfect digital copies of shows like ``Law and 
Order'' would be subjected to the Internet-based bootlegging that has 
plagued the music industry since file-sharing programs such as Napster 
first emerged three years ago.

Electronics makers, for their part, worry that they would be forced to turn 
out DVD players and other devices laden with so many restrictions that 
nobody would want to buy them.

Substantial disagreements remain about the precise definitions of personal 
use, said negotiators, asking not to be quoted on the record. For example, 
the companies did not agree whether consumers would be allowed to send 
copies to their office computers, or whether recordable DVDs would have to 
be encrypted to prevent further duplication.

Joe Kraus, director of a consumer-rights group called Digitalconsumer.org, 
said that many tech companies were still not on board and planned to file 
dissenting comments along with the official report.

``The only consensus this group seems to be arriving at is that there is no 
consensus,'' Kraus said.
***********************
BBC
Pupils share net skills with parents

A school in the northern English city of Newcastle has seen a huge leap in 
the use of computers at home since it became involved in a government scheme.
The Parents Online project was designed by the Department of Education to 
strengthen links between home and school and make parents aware of the 
educational importance of computers and the internet.

It is targeted at deprived areas like Throckley in Newcastle.

Since becoming involved in the Parents Online scheme, Throckley First 
School has seen home PC access for pupils leap from 6% to 57%.

Teaching parents

A recent workshop called Children Teaching Parents saw pupils showing their 
parents how to use the internet and send e-mail.

"The children really enjoy showing their parents what they know on the 
computer," said the school's ICT co-ordinator Victoria Frost

The school has also set up a series of workshops for adults only, with many 
going on to find employment in computer-related jobs in the Newcastle area.

Ms Frost is delighted by the results.

"There has been a massive jump in the number of PCs in the home as a direct 
result of our involvement with the Parents Online website and our ICT push 
in school," she said.

Indispendable net

A recent survey from BTopenworld bears out the idea that the web is coming 
of age as an educational resource for both parents and children.

It found that 48% of parents think the internet is now as useful as books 
for their child's educational development.

Parents are also turning to the web to improve their own parenting skills, 
with 38% seeking tips online.

In higher education the internet has become vital to students, with 94% 
saying that they could not do their degree without it.

"Our research reveals that the internet is fast overtaking more traditional 
methods of learning," said Vice President of BTopenworld Duncan Ingram.

"I'm convinced that the web will become an indispensable learning tool in 
most households."
*********************
BBC
Facing up to diagnosis

Scientists have developed a programme to train computers to scan faces and 
spot genetic syndromes.
They hope that by looking for specific facial traits the computer will help 
aid doctors with little experience of the conditions to be able to diagnose 
them.

Using a series of two dimensional full face photographs the computer has 
been trained to spot rare conditions like Cornelia de Lange, Fragile X and 
Williams-Beuren syndromes.

Charities are now hopeful that it will help doctors spot conditions at a 
much earlier stage.



If this works we would be delighted

A spokesman for the Cornelia de Lange Foundation

Diagnosis

The computer programme represents the face in terms of a graph with 48 
points, by comparing the position of these and the distances between them 
with those on faces in the data base it was able to recognise the conditions.

At first the computers were only 60% accurate, but then they were retrained 
to pay more attention to the eyes, nose, mouth and chin and the diagnosis 
rates shot up to 76%.

Previous studies attempting to identify syndromes using facial features 
have proved less reliable because they have not accounted for the whole 
facial make-up.

Sufferers with Cornelia de Lange syndrome generally share common 
characteristics which include slow growth; small stature; excessive body 
hair, upper limb and heart defects.

They also tend to have thin eyebrows that often meet in the middle, long 
eyelashes and a short upturned nose.

Those with Williams-Beuren syndrome, suffer from a range of symptoms 
including heart defects, mental deficiency and high levels of calcium in 
infancy.

They tend to have wide mouths, full lips, small chin and puffiness around 
the eyes.

Those with Fragile X syndrome tend to have learning and behavioural 
problems and as they get older they generally have largish heads and 
prominent ears.

Although these facial characteristics can become more pronounced with age 
they can be quite difficult to spot in babies.

Accuracy

A spokesman for the Cornelia de Lange Foundation said they welcomed the 
discovery and looked forward to seeing how it could be adapted.

"We would be very interested in anything helps with accurate diagnosis as 
early as possible and if this works we would be delighted.

"It would be interesting to see if this works on diagnosing the milder 
forms of the condition."

Dr Dagmar Wieczorek, of the Institute for Human Genetics at the 
Universitaetsklinikum, in Essen, Germany, fed in 55 photos of people with 
the conditions and found the computer accurately predicted 76% of cases.

She told the European Society for Human Genetics, in Strasbourg: "It takes 
a particular skill to extract a disease specific pattern from a facial 
appearance that is also influenced by family background and environment.

"The idea is to help inexperienced clinicians to make more accurate diagnoses"
**************************
Government Computer News
Rugged notebooks used in Pentagon bioterrorism drill

By William Jackson
GCN Staff


ATLANTAThe Defense Protective Service last month tested rugged notebook PCs 
configured for emergency workers during an exercise in the courtyard of the 
Pentagon.

Federal and local agencies, including the Arlington, Va., fire department, 
responded to a simulated sarin poison gas attack during the drill.

The GoBook notebooks from Itronix Corp. of Spokane, Wash., had a software 
suite called Chemical Biological Response Aide. The application from 
Defense Group Inc. of Alexandria, Va., provides information about chemical 
and biological agents and explosives.

A secure wireless LAN from Telos Corp. of Arlington, Va., kept first 
responders in the courtyard connected to a command center. The first 
responders used Cobra Hardpak II configurations based on the GoBook Max 
ultrarugged notebook. Command post personnel used the lighter GoBook 
version with larger displays and CD-ROM drives. Cobra units were on display 
at the SuperComm trade show in Atlanta this week.

Itronix officials said the GoBook is rated intrinsically safe, meaning it 
does not produce electrical sparks that could ignite flammable gases. They 
said the unit can be decontaminated with water, diluted chlorine or 
disinfectants after use in a chemically or biologically contaminated area.
********************
USA Today
New tool to facilitate wiretapping

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  VeriSign on Monday announced a service to help 
telecommunications companies comply with federal wiretap regulations and 
orders.

The company's NetDiscovery Service, scheduled to launch by the end of June, 
will help carriers comply with a 1994 law requiring them to have equipment 
that supports content-intercept orders.

Telecom companies have until June 30 to comply or request an extension. 
After that, they could be fined up to $10,000 a day for each intercept 
request from a law enforcement agency they cannot handle.

The 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act requires that 
carriers have systems in place that allow law enforcement  with a court 
order  to quickly intercept phone calls and data.

The deadline for compliance has been extended repeatedly over the years 
after companies balked at the price of upgrades.

After paying setup and monthly fees, NetDiscovery customers could shift 
much of the work to VeriSign, which is best known for running Internet 
domain names and online trust services. VeriSign would not say Monday how 
much the service will cost.

NetDiscovery will be available to wired, wireless and cable telephony 
carriers, said Raj Puri, NetDiscovery's project manager.

He said court orders will continue to be addressed to the carriers, which 
must review them before forwarding them to VeriSign. Courts also must sign 
off on law enforcement requests, he added.

"There are a lot of checks and balances in place to make sure whatever is 
provided to law enforcement is clearly something reviewed and approved by 
the courts," he said.
*******************
USA Today
Appeals court takes up Internet libel jurisdiction

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  A federal appeals court heard arguments Monday on 
whether newspapers that post stories on the Internet can be sued for libel 
in states outside their local market.

A Virginia prison warden sued two Connecticut newspapers he says falsely 
depicted him as racist in articles about alleged mistreatment of 
Connecticut inmates who were sent to Virginia to relieve prison crowding.

The Hartford Courant and The New Haven Advocate wrote their articles for a 
Connecticut audience and scrutinized that state's policy of exporting 
inmates, argued Robert Lystad, the newspapers' attorney.

Newspapers will be reluctant to post articles on the Internet if they can 
be sued for libel in states where they have no other significant presence, 
Lystad said.

The attorney for warden Stanley Young argued Virginia was the proper venue 
because the articles focused on events there and the damage to his 
reputation occurred in Virginia.

"They knew any harm he suffered would take place in Virginia," attorney 
Stuart Collins said.

The three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is being 
asked to overturn a judge's decision allowing the warden to sue the 
newspapers in federal court in Big Stone Gap, Va.

Lystad said there is no way to determine how many people read the articles 
on the Internet in Virginia, where the daily Courant has only eight print 
subscribers and the weekly Advocate has none.

The consequence of opening newspapers to libel lawsuits wherever their 
articles can be accessed on the Web is self-censorship, Lystad said.

"If writing articles on the issue of shipping prisoners to Virginia means 
they are subject to jurisdiction of Virginia, they might not be written at 
all," he told the judges.

An attorney for the Tribune Company, which owns the two Connecticut papers, 
said the judges' ruling could have broad implications for the industry.

"This case has the potential to be the first federal appellate case on 
whether someone can be sued anywhere a Web site is read," attorney 
Stephanie Abrutyn said after the hearing.

Collins said outside court that newspaper editors must carefully weigh the 
consequences of what they publish in the Internet age.

"Newspapers want the benefit of being read worldwide but not the 
responsibility that comes with it," he said.

Connecticut newspapers closely followed the transfer of hundreds of 
inmates, most of them black and Hispanic, to Virginia prisons. Newspapers 
reported inmate advocates' concerns about harsh conditions at Wallens Ridge 
State Prison, a maximum-security lockup.

Young, who is white, claimed in his lawsuit that some of the articles 
suggested he "not only tolerates but encourages abuse by his guards."

The appeals court typically takes several weeks to rule on a case after 
hearing arguments.
*********************
USA Today
Government training targets computer crimes

By Matt Caterinicchia, Federal Computer Week

In an attempt to reduce criminal activity in the PC world, additional 
training on investigating and prosecuting cyber criminals will be available 
this fall to personnel in the offices of the attorneys general in each of 
the 50 states.

The National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law (NCJRL) and the 
National Association of Attorneys General have collaborated in preparing 
for the upcoming training programs.

The training is necessary because some states have excellent programs in 
fighting cybercrime while others do not, NCJRL Director Thomas Clancy said. 
"There is also a definite need for coordination amongst the states in order 
to keep everyone on the same page," he said.

According to Clancy, state agencies tend to be underfunded, so a $4.6 
million grant was acquired to run the program for the next two years.

"Training is not only very expensive, but time-consuming as well," he said. 
The training will consist of four sessions at the University of 
Mississippi's Oxford campus. Initially, participants will focus on the 
basics of investigation and criminal cases involving computers. The second 
step in the learning process will include understanding of forensics cases 
and how to present the information in a court of law. The final session 
will be a national conference in the fall of 2003 discussing the progress 
of the program.

Criminal activity over the Internet and on computer systems has become more 
sophisticated, making it extremely difficult to investigate crimes and 
prosecute "hackers." The difficulty magnifies when computers and other 
equipment are used to commit crimes across jurisdictional boundaries.

In recent years, criminal activity involving pornography and fraud, for 
example, had migrated to the Internet, Clancy said. After the Sept. 11 
terrorist attacks, the federal government has focused more on homeland 
security, Clancy said. "Because of this, the states are in critical need to 
enhance their abilities when dealing with computer crimes," he said.
*****************
Government Executive
White House taps techies for key jobs

By Bara Vaida, National Journal's Technology Daily


The Bush administration has shuffled some personnel and hired new people to 
fill existing and new top-level jobs in federal agencies.

John Ackerly, associate director of the White House National Economic 
Council (NEC), is moving over to the Commerce Department's policy shop in 
mid-June to become deputy director of the agency's Office of Policy and 
Strategic Planning. He will work on a broad portfolio of economic issues 
with that office's director, Donald Trigg.

A Washington-area native, Ackerly worked on high-tech issues for President 
Bush's 2000 campaign. He replaces Nuala O'Connor, who moved to Commerce's 
Technology Administration to become general counsel. She was previously the 
vice president for data protection and chief privacy officer at the online 
advertising firm DoubleClick.

Richard Russell, who has been nominated as associate director of the White 
House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and NEC Chairman Lawrence 
Lindsey are leading the search to replace Ackerly at the NEC.

In other administration news, the Office of Management and Budget created a 
chief architect position to manage its e-government projects and to work on 
the overall federal information technology framework. Bob Haycock, 
previously the deputy chief information officer for the Denver office of 
the Bureau of Reclamation, will fill the position.
*************************
CNET
Online game helping to streetproof kids
By RAQUEL EXNER -- Edmonton Sun

A teenage boy named Zack meets an adult over the Internet who convinces him 
to come to California and work for a Web site that features pictures of 
cool kids.

The slick Web site is really a front for a child porn site, but Zack 
doesn't know it and wants to flee across the border for more freedom.

You're the detective in this game called Missing and you have mere hours to 
stop Zack by finding clues in private e-mails between the teen and his new 
friend.

If you fail, you have to crack complex codes and find hidden clues on Web 
sites to save Zack before he's whisked away to Mexico.

About 180 junior high students from Parkview school in Edmonton played the 
game in Scott Couprie's computer class this spring - about the same time 
two real examples of Internet crime played out in the Edmonton area.

In one case, police said a 13-year-old St. Albert girl met someone over the 
Internet and invited him over to her house, where she was sexually assaulted.

Then last month, a 16-year-old girl from Edmonton was raped by two men 
after meeting one of them through an Internet chat room, said 
investigators. The victim and two of her teenage girlfriends met the two 
men at a mall parking lot before going to party at a north-end home where 
the girl was later attacked.

The 16-year-old victim now tells The Sun she'd like to see all schools 
offer courses on Internet safety.

"If I would have had a course like this it would have helped me a lot," she 
said.

"I probably never would have gone and met those guys. I know now people on 
the Internet can lie about anything and they can seem like they're really 
nice, but they could be bad."

SICKENED BY REAL-LIFE STORIES

Couprie, sickened by such real-life stories, is hopeful education will 
empower his students to outsmart and spot pedophiles online.

He vows all Grade 7 students at his school will now play Missing to learn 
about Internet safety.

Ultimately, he would like to see the game introduced to all junior high 
schools across Edmonton.

"If schools had a program like this going all the time we could 
theoretically blanket almost every kid in the city. If every student had 
this knowledge we would have less victims," said Couprie. "It's just too 
important not to teach them some valuable safety skills."

Parents and students agree. Pamela Scott, a mom, said schools have better 
access to learning tools than parents. Her daughter, Melissa Scott, 12, 
adds: "Sometimes parents don't have the connection with their kids that the 
school does."

One of Couprie's students, Kirsten Snell, 13, said she now knows to watch 
for Internet strangers who try to find things in common with her and prey 
on her insecurities.

"You have to be careful. These predators are very smart," said Snell.

Det. John Evans, a local cop who works for the Canadian Police Research 
Centre, said using the game to educate kids "would make the pedophile's job 
an awful lot harder."

Not only does the game teach students that predators are dangerous, it 
teaches them how cunning predators are.

Pedophiles spend a lot of time learning teenage lingo and pop culture, so 
they can legitimately come across as youthful as they meet teens in chat 
rooms, said Det. Rick Wilks of the city police's vice section.

Predators will also pretend to share similar experiences with teens; 
isolate the kids from friends and family; get youth to keep their "new" 
friendship a secret and then even try to meet the teens in person.

Other tricks predators use are sending gifts and insisting they don't want 
to know any personal information about you, say police. But not all 
predators want in person meetings. Some are happy just conversing with 
teens online.

Others like to exchange pictures or ask for nude photos of the kids they 
meet, say police.

Regardless of their goal, Wilks said predators log every tidbit of 
information they uncover about their targeted victims - just like 
intelligence gathering.

In an effort to protect the relationship, some predators will introduce 
teens to pornography and if the relationship starts to sour, the predators 
will threaten to tell the teens' family.

"As much trouble as you think you might be in, it's nothing compared to 
what it will be if you (don't tell someone and get help)," said Evans.

He wants parents and teens to realize how much time and research predators 
dedicate to trapping kids.

"People somehow seem to think you'll be sitting in a chat room and suddenly 
some guy comes on and says, 'Hey, I'm a pedophile, can I send you a plane 
ticket and you can come to my place and I can sexually molest you and tie 
you up in a basement?' And the kid says sure," said Evans.

"It's a slow con job and most kids don't seem to understand this, and most 
parents don't either."

And for people who think there aren't many Internet predators out there, 
think again.

When an undercover detective went into a chat room and used a young, female 
name and posed as being under 13, within 30 seconds five guys wanted to 
talk sex, said Wilks, who is one of two officers who regularly go into chat 
rooms looking for predators.

So, what advice do cops have for parents? Don't forbid your children from 
going on to the Internet because that may discourage them from telling you 
about predators they encounter via the computer.

INTERNET AGREEMENTS USEFUL

Make up an Internet-use agreement with your kids that states how you'll 
react in certain situations, so your children know what to expect.

And tell your kids you know they're going to meet "weirdos" on the Net, so 
it's OK for them to come to you and talk about it.

Wilks advice is even more simple: "Trust no one and trust only your 
instincts. The Internet is a target-rich environment for predators and for 
targets."
*********************
New Zealand Morning Herald
Spam threatens to choke internet
By ALISON HORWOOD

Spam. Not a rich and meaty product, the spam we are talking about is the 
endless stream of junk email that clutters in-boxes every day.

It's the mail you didn't ask for, and it comes from people you don't know, 
offering Nigerian get-rich schemes, female Viagra cream, and Asian babes 
doing unnatural acts.

The scourge of every business, it is endemic and it is threatening to choke 
the internet.

The cost of spam worldwide runs into the billions as businesses and 
internet service providers fine-tune their systems to block it, and workers 
take time out from a busy day to dump it.

Best estimates suggest the volume has increased between five and ten-fold 
in the last year.

Brightmail, a UK company that specialises in blocking spam, estimates the 
unwanted irritants make up between 15 and 30 per cent of all e-mail handled 
by internet service providers (ISPs).

In New Zealand, two of the bigger players among the country's 80-odd ISPs - 
Telstra Clear (Clearnet and Paradise) and Xtra - say spam makes up at least 
10 per cent of their incoming mail.

While the cost worldwide is impossible to quantify, a British MessageLabs 
survey of 200 companies found the average worker took 10 minutes a day to 
clear spam.

That's £470 ($1534) a year in lost time for someone on a salary of £25,000 
($81,618) - so for Britain alone, the bill runs into the billions.

The European Commission estimates that spam costs European consumers US$8.6 
billion ($19.5 billion) a year.

New Zealand internet commentator and editor of Aardvark Bruce Simpson says 
spam has been a problem here for four or five years, with volumes 
increasing markedly in the past year.

"A number of people have said that they are now receiving more than twice 
the level of spam they got just a year ago," he says.

The increase may come down to economics and software. The cost of sending a 
million messages is marginally more than sending 10.

The acquisition of e-mail addresses is relatively easy with the use of 
software robots that trawl the web looking for addresses.

For the spammer, although the response rate may be low - figures of 2 to 3 
per cent have been suggested - big money can be made if enough mail is sent.

Internet Society executive director Sue Leader says the society is "well 
aware of the issue" and plans to address it at a strategic planning meeting.

"I think everyone is aware of the nuisance value and one thing that has 
been quite obvious is the increase in the last couple of months, especially 
from Asia," she says.

She cleared her in-box recently and found that 150 of 220 new pieces of 
mail were spam.

So what's the answer?

Legislation looks like a weak option. The European Commission is 
considering laws that would block companies in the EU from sending e-mails 
without having specific permission from the potential recipients.

The State of Washington has had laws against unwanted e-mails for some 
years. Despite successful lawsuits, the flow has not been stemmed.

Laws are often ineffective because spammers send their mail via servers in 
the Far East and Asia - which can often be hijacked - and so remain outside 
their home countries' legislation.

Nothing is planned by our own Government. Simpson suggests the only way to 
stamp out spam would be to introduce global cyberspace legislation.

Separate legislation against spamming in New Zealand would fail because 
almost all the mail arrives from countries over which we have no jurisdiction.

Simpson says many messages arriving here are US-based, but are sent via 
insecure computers in countries such as Korea, Taiwan, China or the former 
Soviet states.

The cost to New Zealand is manifold.

There is the wasted bandwidth the spam consumes - some users pay for each 
megabyte of data received over a certain level.

There is the wasted time spent wading through a mailbox. There is the extra 
computer and disk capacity that ISPs install to cope with the traffic.

Not only is spam a waste of time and money, says Simpson, but almost 
everyone pays for it - except the spammer.

ISPs pass on the extra costs of having to deliver it to users' mailboxes 
and users have to cover the cost of time wasted deleting it.

Xtra spokesman Matt Bostwick describes spam as a "scourge" that "chews up 
system resources", so legitimate mail is delayed while the spam is processed.

Xtra has a dedicated security team of five to filter spam, but some does 
get through.

Telstra Clear spokesman Ralph Little says that while it is difficult to put 
a figure on the cost to the company, it uses valuable resources including a 
round-the-clock team.

The team looks for features typical of spam such as large quantities of 
mail coming from a particular address.

Customers are encouraged to implement their own steps to cut down spam, 
such as using filters.
***********************
New Zealand Morning Herald
Split lines slow net access
By RICHARD WOOD

Twenty-six thousand Telecom customers are unwittingly sharing telephone 
line capacity with their neighbours, causing slow internet access.

The line splitting, known as "Pair Gain, 1+1" or "0+2", puts two separate 
phone services down one physical copper pair line.

The effect is a service that is suitable for voice, but means much slower 
internet access speed.

Network group manager of service performance Christopher Pye confirmed that 
customers would not know they were on a split line unless they complained 
to Telecom about modem speed.

Pye initially said Telecom would then move them to a full line at no charge 
by rearranging the network but Telecom general manager network investment 
Rhoda Holmes later contacted the Herald and said this was not always possible.

In that case, Holmes said, Telecom would look for economic justification 
for putting in another line.

It would then look at its forecasts for the area involved to see if it 
could justify upgrading the cable to provide more service or to provide DSL 
(fast internet) services.

Holmes said most of the customers on 0+2 had no dial up problems.

When asked whether customers were entitled to a line suitable for dial up 
internet access, Holmes said, "It's not a case of entitlement. It is a case 
what we can do to best serve them for their needs."

Under the upgraded Kiwi Share arrangements between the Crown and Telecom, 
95 per cent of consumers are to be upgraded to a dial up speed of 14.4Kbps 
and 99 per cent to at least 9.6Kbps by 2004.

Pye said Telecom was very careful about giving people 0+2.

"We check to see if they have been using the internet and if so we don't 
give it to them."

Pye said splits were no longer being installed but were previously put in 
where existing lines were not available and where it was the most 
economical option. He said it amounted to 2 per cent of Telecom's 1.7 
million customers.

He said Telecom was in the process of eliminating line splitting from the 
network.

The problem was highlighted when student Paul Dieben moved to Whangarei and 
found his internet access speed went down to 24Kpbs from the 36 or 48Kpbs 
he was getting at Kerikeri.

Dieben said the local Telecom contractor advised him of his split line 
situation and told him the only way to get it changed was to move to a 
high-speed DSL service, as that would force an upgrade on his line.

Dieben said he had been a happy Ihug Ultra satellite user using dial up 
modem for the uplink.

He said he resented spending $500 to move to DSL and that Telecom never 
offered to have his line upgraded.

Holmes said Telecom would investigate the matter.
*********************
New Zealand Morning Herald
Australian spammers plunder net names
ADAM GIFFORD

Attempts by New Zealand domain name registry Domainz to shut out Australian 
spammers Internet Registry proved short-lived, as the company shifted to a 
.com address.

Internet Registry has a similar methodology to fellow Melbourne company 
Internet Name Group, which is under investigation by the Australian 
Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Both companies have a copy of the Domainz' "Whois" database of .co.nz name 
owners, which they cross-referenced against the .com database.

They then contact name owners to tell them that the www."yourname".com name 
is unregistered, and invite them to pay an inflated sum to register it.

Domainz chief executive Derek Locke said using the Whois database for this 
sort of commercial activity breached Domainz rules.

"These people are scumbags. They are preying on people's fears and 
technical ignorance."

While some companies may have commercial reasons for buying up their name 
or trademark in multiple domains, most .nz nameholders only want or need 
the one address.

If they want to buy other addresses, competition among legitimate .nz 
registrars means they can do so for as little as $29.95.

Internet Registry sent out a spam email to its database last Wednesday 
inviting .nz nameholders to go to www.internetregistry.co.nz to register 
the corresponding .com name for $198 for a two-year period.

On Thursday Domainz removed the site because the company was in breach of 
the Whois rules.

"They threatened us with all sorts of law suits, but we haven't heard 
anything from any lawyers yet," Locke said.

"We also complained to the Commerce Commission, which says it wants to work 
with the ACCC on this."

Early yesterday morning Internet Registry re-sent the spam, pointing to 
www.internetregistrynz.com.

Locke said Domainz was not able to shut down a .com-registered site.

Internet Registry claims to be physically based in the 16th floor of the 
ASB Centre in Auckland.

But the Australian who answered the 0800 line yesterday was not aware it 
was a public holiday in New Zealand. Identifying herself only as Sally, she 
said the .co.nz address was down because of "server problems".

She refused to give a contact number for managing director David Critchley, 
saying it was company policy he could be contacted only by fax or email.

Critchley did not call back.

The Internet Registry site advertises all domains, including .co.nz, for a 
minimum two years.

Sally said this minimum was also "company policy".

Locke said .nz names could only be registered for 12 months.

That might not worry Sally, Critchley and Internet Registry.

According to the terms of service on its website, on accepting an order for 
domain registration, "Internet Registry acts only to apply for renewal of 
the registration when required and takes no responsibility if ... the 
relevant registrar fails to renew the domain name."

If clients try to cancel an order, they will incur a $100 fee.

Locke said Internet Name Group is back in the New Zealand market, faxing 
firms with what looks like an invoice giving them 48 hours to register the 
.com variation for "only $125".

He said ING had promised a federal court in Melbourne in April it would not 
imply it had a pre-existing relationship with a person by such ploys such 
as describing its notices as "Renewal Advices" or inviting people to 
"confirm" a renewal.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Domainz
**********************
New Zealand Morning Herald
(New Zealand) Government opens purse for 'human interface' lab

The Human Interface Technology Laboratory to be established at the 
University of Canterbury is a flagship for collaboration between 
universities, local and central government and the private sector, says 
Industry New Zealand Chief Executive Neil Mackay.

Commenting on the Minister for Economic Development Jim Anderton's 
announcement of $331,250 of government funding for HIT Lab NZ, facilitated 
by Industry New Zealand, Mr Mackay said the establishment of the lab was a 
ground-breaking exercise involving a unique partnership.

"On the local government side there's the Canterbury Development 
Corporation which had the initial vision to get HIT Lab to Christchurch," 
he said.

"On the academic side there's the University of Canterbury where the HIT 
Lab will be located and where its academic staff and students will work and 
learn; there's also the University of Washington, the home of the first HIT 
Lab, which has strongly backed the move down-under.

"And from central government, Industry New Zealand has worked alongside all 
the partners to help make sure HIT Lab NZ happened." Mr Mackay said it was 
also great to see a world-class New Zealander HIT Lab director Mark 
Billinghurst being attracted back to this country to do leading edge research.

HIT Lab NZ is an annex of the first HIT Lab established at the University 
of Washington in Seattle by Dr Tom Furness. The laboratory is a 
world-leader in virtual reality technology. Human Interface Technology is 
the development of new interfaces to make the computer more natural, 
intuitive and easy to use, enhancing people's interaction with computers.

Mr Mackay said the certainty government backing had given HIT Lab NZ had 
allowed it to start recruiting New Zealand businesses for a HIT Lab 
consortium that will give members access to computer developments, to 
international networks and to latest technology. "What's really exciting is 
the reach of HIT Lab," Mr Mackay said. "It has the potential to be 
incredibly influential in the development of students, researchers and a 
wide range of businesses and not just those in Information and 
Communications Technology sector.

"Growth will be exponential as the benefits of HIT Lab fan out through the 
economy and society. "This is what happened with the original HIT Lab in 
Seattle and the state of Washington.

"It helped create new companies, new jobs, income, patents, highly trained 
graduates, international links and new technologies, for example the 
virtual retinal display (VRD) which scans images directly into the retina 
of the eye, doing away with the need for a monitor or a display screen." He 
said these positive spin-offs could be repeated in Christchurch and New 
Zealand.
*******************


Lillie Coney
Public Policy Coordinator
U.S. Association for Computing Machinery
Suite 507
1100 Seventeenth Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036-4632
202-659-9711